The Vagabond Gospel
by empireofapples
Summary: "I am Optimus Prime, and I send this message to any surviving Autobots taking refuge among the stars. We are here. We are waiting." Terrance frowns. "But you're not an Autobot, or whatever he said," he says. Lunardust cuts the message, frowning back at her ward. "I am not, correct. However, I am a neutral and do not plan on siding with the Decepticons anytime soon."
1. Quiet is Violent

**The Vagabond Gospel.**

Chapter One: Quiet is Violent.

"_I find over the course of our human existence; One thing consists of consistence; And it's that we're all battling fear…_" Twenty One Pilots, Car Radio

* * *

Terrance Case huffed quietly to himself as he threw another load of his dirty laundry into the washing machine, ready to be done with this loud one. He was three dollars poorer and craving for something other than beef jerky and stale crackers to eat, but he still had awhile before there was any money for a steak dinner in his budget.

"A hundred more miles, she says," he grumbles, dipping the small measuring cup into the powder laundry detergent before throwing it into the machine, letting it sprinkle over his clothes. "It will take two hours at most, she says."

Those hundred miles and two hours had, much to Terrance's dislike, turned into three thousand miles and almost two weeks' worth of sitting in the driver seat trying not to fall asleep while 'at the wheel'.

"Do not mock me."

He jumps, turning quickly to look at the woman behind him. It's four in the morning in a laundromat in the middle of New Mexico. He was quite glad, too. Her form fizzled and sparked before going back to the perfect image it had been. It fizzled lightly again, not soon after.

"Dusty, you can't sneak up on me like that!"

She purses her lips, looking at the twenty foot by twenty foot room, taking note of the machines and which ones looked promising to cease to function first.

"I apologize. I will make my presence known each time I enter a room."

Terrance runs a hand over his face, feeling the body oil that coats it. He's breaking out again for the first time in almost three years and his hair has never been longer. There was a definite need for some TLC.

"You have to be more careful when you use… that," he says, motioning for the frizzling body of 'Dusty'. "You can't be seen in public _frizzling_. People will freak out."

"But we are not in public, correct?" she says, folding her arms over her chest. "My scans show that there are no biologicals within a two mile radius that are currently conscious. We are safe."

Terrance pushes his hair back, moving the few fallen strands from his eyes and turns back to the washing machines. He closes the door on the last one and pushes the _start_ button. It whirls and fills with water, quickly ridding Terrance's clothing of the nasty sweat smell that have been _almost_ permanently embedded in the fabric.

"How much farther to go?" Terrance asks, pulling his self up on top of a machine that wasn't in use and sitting on it comfortably. She does not answer at first, far too captured by the change machine. "Lunardust!"

She snaps her head around, her body fizzling yet again. This time she disappears for a fraction of a second. Terrance sighs and cross his legs underneath him. The dirty-white metal of the machine is cool compared to the warm New Mexico air.

"How much farther?" he asks again.

She has a pensive expression on the coded face before she begins spouting out directional information. Terrance ignores over half of it, only picking out "three hundred miles" from where the signal had been sent from and "four hundred and sixty-two miles" from where the correct meet-up point had been established, as per the message.

"Replay the message?" he requests, and Lunardust does so, projecting the message from her body.

He listens closely, trying to memorize every detail of the message.

"_I am Optimus Prime, and I send this message to any surviving Autobots taking refuge among the stars. We are here. We are waiting_."

"But you're not an Autobot, or whatever he said," Terrance says. Lunardust cuts the message, frowning at her ward.

"I am not, correct. However, I am a neutral and do not plan on siding with the Decepticons anytime soon."

Terrance looks at 'Dusty', wearing a blank expression, unsure of how to take in the moment. She had explained most of this before to him, during one of their many long drives, but Terrance must have not been listening enough to comprehend what she was saying because he does not remember much of what she's repeating to him.

Then, in the back of Terrance's mind, the topic that has been eating at him rears its ugly head. For the past few days he had wondered what would happen once they made it to the meet up point. Would he go back home and try to live his life normally even though he knew what he knew? College was a waste of his time and money, but how else was he supposed to make a living…

"Lunardust, I-"

Suddenly, her form fizzles completely out of sight and when she doesn't make a reappearance after the usual few seconds, Terrance jumps from the machine and runs from inside the laundromat and to the dark orange Jeep Wrangler that he has called home for the past few weeks while driving through the states.

"What happened, are you okay?" he asks, trying to be quiet enough to not draw any attention to them from anyone in the neighborhood. It wasn't the best neighborhood in the town they had picked, either.

"Yes, I'm fine," Lunardust replies, but it is weak and Terrance knows. "Just low on a sufficient fuel source. They will have Energon at the base. I have enough power to get us there, but we must hurry."

Terrance looks at his Jeep, the friend that he has taken into his life and refused to let leave. After his mother died of cancer not a year ago and his few friends off at college changing the world, he did not have much purpose. _This_ was the purpose that he had given himself.

"Rest, Dusty. It won't take long for everything to wash, okay? I'm right here, you need to rest."

The vehicle hums in acknowledgement of his words, and the metal feels soothingly warm until his touch. Terrance rests his head on the door.

"We're not giving up without a fight," he whispers, but knows Lunardust is resting peacefully when she does not reply to his words. Terrance moves from his car, taking a few looks back at it before climbing back up onto the laundry machine. The three machines he has going are the only noise, but he focuses on the orange vehicle outside, ten feet away, half-listening so to catch when they are done and he can throw his clothes into a dryer.

Four in the morning soon turns to five in the morning, and the sun is just barely peaking over the horizon. The only way he can tell sunrise is coming is from the descent of the moon and the slight shade difference of darkness in the eastern and western skies. Terrance quickly folds all of his clothes, careful of the hot metal buttons on his jeans, so everything will fit in the large gray duffle he has that holds all his belongings. Leaving the laundromat, he carefully opens the driver side door of the vehicle.

Slowly, Lunardust awakens from her short rest from Terrance's voice speaking to her. Her Spark tugs at the thought of what could possibly happen once she has met up with the Autobots, but refuses to let him leave her now. The little organic has grown on her. Even if he is messy and always having ridiculous little biological needs.

_Not much farther_, she reminds herself, but checks her systems one last time as Terrance becomes comfortable in her cab.

**Power Supply: 20.35%**

**Automatic Stasis Lock in **_**6.17 Joors. **_

**Replenish Energon Supplies Immediately.**

Lunardust lets her struts and bands relax, making sure nothing feels out of place before Terrance taps her steering wheel. Quickly, she reverses from the parking spot and maneuvers through the town, getting back on the empty two-lane highway. The sun rises to the right of them, warming Lunardust's side. When she goes to speak to Terrance, she finds him fast asleep, head lulled to the left of the headrest. Lunardust watches him, doing a quick scan of his vitals. Everything is normal (at least from what she has gathered from researching human vitals from the World Wide Web).

Her entrance into the Earth's atmosphere had been a rough one, which was to be expected seeing as her travel pod had been malfunctioning since she arrived into the solar system. She floated for almost thirty vorns on the outer ring of the planets before something came across her processor. _More Cybertronians_. Whether they were Decepticons or Autobots, she did not particularly care nor worry of, all she left burden her processor was _where_ were they going.

Not long after, as she was finally breaking past the first three planets in this small solar system, a message was broadcasted through the speakers of her small hub, and with what last of the power she could conjure from it, she set the landing coordinates to the ones tagged to the message.

Of course, nothing ever was quite simple for Lunardust. The hub cease to have any functions just as she passed by the moon of the planet and all the shields that the hub was programmed with were unable to come up, making the entry very painful.

And kind, messy little Terrance had been there to find her and help her.

"_I'm drunk. I'm not going to remember any of this_," she remembers him saying as she crawls from the shallow waters of the Floridian beach, getting sand in very uncomfortable spots. (She despises the substance now.) However, when he awoke the next morning with her laid out in his two car garage, covered in sand and in much pain, something in them both… _clicked_.

A small red message pops up in the peripheral of her vision. They are almost half way through the drive, nearing the location of where the message had been sent.

**Power Supply: 9.89%**

**Automatic Stasis Lock in **_**2.78 Joors.**_

**Replenish Energon Supplies Im-**

_I heard you the first time!_ She yells at her inner systems, frustrated that she will be just below on energy. They will be a few miles out from the base, and with her communication systems down since she left Cybertron's atmosphere, Lunardust speeds up, going well over the human's limit of speed and being sure to stay out of the radar of any law enforcement.

* * *

Terrance awakes to the sharp sound of tires skidding on pavement, the rubber leaving a marked line down the high way. He jerks forward and catches himself on the steering wheel, voicing his concern of why Lunardust had suddenly stopped in the middle of the road. There were no cars around, even though it was close to 11 am.

"Dusty?" he calls, opening his driver side door to jump out.

She's quiet, not answering and he realizes that what energy she had before he was asleep has dwindled down.

"Dusty!" he calls again, just as two vehicles begin to come in sight from farther down the road, and they are coming fast.

"Autobots," she says softly, and Terrance's tense muscles relax. There is a large black truck and a small blue car, both of which Terrance is hesitant to as they pull up beside Lunardust's alt mode.

Once the two vehicles come to a braking stop, the driver side door of the black truck opens and a man hopes down. He's dressed in military greens and tan skinned. He walks up to the two, leaving the others behind him.

"I'm Major Will Lennox. This is Ironhide and Jolt," he motions to the black truck and blue car. "We're here to help your friend. May we know his name?"

"_Her_ name is Lunardust," he says, staying close to the jeep. Will nods, looking over at the two vehicles behind him. The blue car, Jolt, rolls forward, and a small red scanner projects from one of his headlights. "What was that?" he shouts, worried, looking over Lunardust but she does not move.

"I scanned her," it replies, rolling closer and to just behind Will Lennox. "She is in stasis lock from low energy. I will escort you back to base and Ironhide will tow her back."

Terrance doesn't move, keeping his palm on her warm, dusty metal, not daring to move too far from here. The last time he wants to do is lose her after the past month that they've been together.

"It's fine," Will Lennox says, walking up to him. Terrance keeps a guarded aura. "The last thing they want to do is harm a female. Trust me, you have my word."

The hesitance is thick in the hot Nevada air. Will notices and racks his little jarhead brain for something else to say that will sway the boy to stay calm and come with them. He understands the connection he may have with the bot.

"Okay," Terrance finally says, reaching into the car to pull out his gray duffle bag filled with fresh clothes. He shuts her door softly, giving her a few pats before walking toward Will. "But if anything happens to her I will not be held accountable for my actions."

Will Lennox smiles softly and nods, reaching out to wrap an arm around Terrance's shoulders as he leads him to the open door of the blue car, Jolt. "Don't worry, kid. I've heard that one plenty before and don't take it lightly. You can trust me on one thing, they're happy to see another female."

Terrance settles into the blue car, and watches as the black truck moves on its own, toward the front of Lunardust.

"He better be careful with her," Terrance murmurs.

"Ironhide knows how to handle a femme," Jolt says, sound coming from his radio. Terrance jumps, not expecting an answer. Terrance moves his eyes back to the truck and military officer. There's a thick cord linking the truck's rear bumper to Lunardust's front one. Slowly, the mini caravan begins to move back in the direction of where it originated, pulling two new allies with it.

Terrance uses one of the side mirrors in Jolt's alt mode to keep an eye on the black truck and make sure he wasn't rough housing the sleeping jeep. He rubbed at his forehead, feeling a stress headache coming on.

"My scan shows that you have pressure on the nerves in your frontal lobe. Ratchet will have aspirin waiting for you when we arrive on base."

Terrance, feeling slightly creeped out, just nods and folds his arms over his chest, keeping as much of his contact off the interior of the vehicle. The ride is no longer than ten minutes long, but Terrance is still tense and worries for his mechanical friend. Inside the walls and fences of the base, a swarm of military men and women are walking around, some jogging in groups and others moving quickly from tall building to tall building. He people-watches for a few moments before the blue car turns and slips between two buildings and travels farther to the back of the complex.

The black truck rumbles behind them as they enter into one of the largest buildings that Terrance can see. It takes up almost three of the regular buildings and the overhang door reaches almost forty feet up. It is intimidating, but fascinating at the same time. He knew there were more like Lunardust but were they that much taller? She was, approximately, seventeen to eighteen feet tall and thin.

How much bigger could they possibly get?

Jolt pauses in front of a door, and from the automatically opening door, Terrance takes this as a sign to step out. He does so and steps back a good ten feet. The bot transforms before his eyes, and it still surprises him. He's young, and just a tad bit taller than Lunardust. Maybe a foot or two more, give or take some inches.

He opens the large door, letting the human walk in first. Lennox is right behind him, much to Terrance's surprise, talking into a walkie to someone named 'Epps'. Jolt steps off to the side, going into another room. Lennox pulls Terrance to the side as Ironhide pulls Lunardust into the large room. There is a desk almost twenty feet tall and counters that looks like large shelves. Tools as big as Terrance look menacing but he knows deep down that they have saved lives.

"Where is she?" A booming voice speaks, echoing out deep vocals through the large room. Terrance jumps back as a large yellow and black machine comes stepping into the room, Jolt following behind it.

"That's Ratchet. Best medic this side of the universe," Will Lennox says to Terrance. The young adult nods, staying close to the officer even though he wishes to be next to his guardian.

Ironhide disconnects the cord he has connecting him to the femme bot and drives forward before transforming also, proving to Terrance that _yes they could be much taller_.

"Does she have rust in her processor?" the mech growls, moving toward the disabled Lunardust. "She should have contacted us if her power supply was this low!"

"She couldn't," Terrance speaks up, and the large yellow mech turns toward him. "She said her communicators had been down since she left Cybertron."

He purses his lips_, if a robot can even do that_, Terrance thinks, and turns back to the orange female.

"Ironhide, help me get her on the berth."

The black robot grumbles something in a whirl of clicks and whistles, something that sounds oddly familiar from the sounds that Lunardust had originally made before she began to speak to Terrance in his native language, but goes back and helps his fellow bot move her gently. Terrance watches with keen eyes, looking for any sign that his friend may be harmed. Once on the large flat surface, _berth_, Terrance realizes it to be, Ratchet does his work in carefully opening the hood to her alt mode. Terrance strains his neck to see, and is surprised to see the glowing blue orb that Lunardust had told him was her Spark. Ratchet maneuvers his large fingers around the area of the orb, smaller ends extending from the tips before there's a faint _click_ .

Ratchet and Ironhide work together to manually transform the femme from her alt mode to her pedal form, being observant of the scratches on her sides and loose wires. Once fully converted to her true form, Lunardust lays dormant with Ratchet beginning to connect wires to multiple places on her body.

"Is she going to be okay?" Terrance asks once Ratchet finishes connecting wires and picks up a data pad from the large counter/shelf thing that towers above Terrance's head.

"She will be perfectly healthy, young one. She is low on Energon and needs a long rest. It will only take about twelve of your Earth hours, or so. No need to fret."

Terrance, even though he was told not to, worried.

"Why don't we go get you something to eat, hm?" Will Lennox suggests, and Terrance shakes his head.

"I'm not leaving her."

Will is surprised, but from the look that Terrance is giving the femme, he can sense that he is as devoted to her as Sam is to Bumblebee, and he is almost certain that it is returned from her end.

"Youngling," Ratchet says, catching both of their attentions. "Go with the Major. I will be in contact if there are any fluctuations in her vital signs."

Terrance is unwavering in his decision before he nods and pushes himself off of the wall he had been leaning on. Will smiles at Ratchet, who in return gives a nod. The officer slings his arm around Terrance's shoulders once again.

"C'mon. The dining hall isn't the best food in the world but I bet it's better than whatever you've been eating lately."

Terrance silently agreed; he was glad to not be eating beef jerky and crackers that tasted like cardboard for the first time in over two weeks.

The dining hall was at a low lull in sound when the two walked in. Soldiers of all shape and size sat together at the long tables, some speaking with their fork or spoon, while others listened in and ate slowly. They were all war-hardened. They had all seen someone die. They are soldiers. A few accents could be picked up here and there, showing that not all of them were of American descent.

Will and Terrance were seated at the end of one of the long tables. A few soldiers greeted their higher-up friendly, to which he returned with a smile and a wave. Terrance slowly ate the food in front of him. While it was no steak, definitely better than gas station food.

"Major Lennox?"

The two males look up from their meals to find a short woman, dressed in a pencil skirt and a tucked in cream colored blouse, holding a stack of papers in her arms.

"Yes, Marcy?"

"I was told to give this to you by Director Galloway," she says, pulling the papers from her chest and setting them in front of the officer. Lennox sighs as he begins to shuffle through them, completely forgetting about his small meal now.

"Thank you, Marcy. I'll return them as soon as I can."

Marcy nods, looking at Terrance for a moment, before she speeds off, her heels clicking on the concrete floor. Will Lennox sighs again, rubbing at his temples before dragging his hands down his face.

"I hate paperwork," he murmurs to no one in particular. Straightening himself back up, Lennox pulls a pen from his jacket pocket and begins to fill out the blanks on the front page. Terrance does not pay him much attention until he asks for it. "You said her name is Lunardust, right?"

Terrance nods. Will fills in a few more lines. "About how long ago did she arriv, or do you know-"

"A month ago. She landed on the beach and I took her back to my house. I was drunk," Terrance answers, taking another bite from his plastic tray of dining hall food. Lennox nods, continuing to write. After a few minutes, he looks up with an almost blank expression.

"I just realized I don't even know your name," Will says. Terrance smirks and nods, pushing his empty tray to the side.

"Terrance Case of West Palm Beach, Florida. Nice to meet you," he says, holding his hand out for the major. Will smiles and shakes the hand.

"The same. Now, let's try and get most of this filled out, yeah?"

Terrance laughs and nods, taking the sheet of paper Will slid to him, and looking over what he could fill out. Most of it was basic information about him that didn't take more than five minutes to fill in. He'd done it almost a hundred of times before with job applications and applying for college so none of it was much difference.

"I was thinking Sam was just an unlucky teenager but it seems he's not the only one," Will says, glancing over what Terrance had written down about his first encounter with the femme bot.

"Sam?" Terrance asks. Will nods.

"Yeah, you'll meet him later on. He bought a car and it ended up being an alien robot. Who knew?" Will says jokingly. Terrance snorts.

"He must have horrible luck."

"He does."

The two laugh, forgetting about the paperwork for the time being.

"So, let's go find you a bunk, yeah? I doubt you'll be going anywhere anytime soon without your friend."

* * *

**A/N: **_Joor: _approximately 1 Earth hour.

_Vorn_: approximately 83 Earth years.

Slowly pulling in the plot I have semi-planned. Look for another chapter in a few days! I'm hoping to update this story at least once every week.


	2. Don't Lose Composure Now

**The Vagabond Gospel.**

Chapter Two: Don't Lose Composure Now.

"_I wear my soul on my sleeve at night searching for substance; I lose control of my autonomic mind waiting for the impluse; And I saw the rage burning in your eyes, your thoughts intangible; Follow me down, we'll get paralyzed around the winding road…" _Dance Gavin Dance, The Robot With Human Hair Pt. 4

* * *

Jolt carefully removed the shoulder piece of Lunardust's armor, noting that there were no internal dents to her protoform. He was glad because more than likely Ratchet would have him bang them out and because of the femme's small form he would have to be more patience than he did with any of the other mechs that he had worked on plenty of times before.

The dark orange pigment was scratched and discolored, but he could easily replicate it. Taking the small paint chipper from its hookup in the second drawer of his own little desk in the Med Bay, Jolt proceeds to shave off a small square inch of the paint and match it to any of the others that they have created there on the Base. After so many battles, and the very narcissistic Sunstreaker complained about the lack of matching paint, Ratchet and Jolt put their pre-War skills to work and created the little machine that Jolt now welds.

While the system scans and begins to add pigments to the specialized paint that Cybertronians must use, Jolt takes a small (for him, not the humans) rubber mallet and begins to smooth out the rough bumps and concaves in Lunardust's shoulder armor.

"Jolt!" Ratchet calls from his desk, shuffling through numerous data pads. He could not wait much longer for the official Autobot Base to be complete so that he could have Teletraan 1 easily located all the needed files he was searching for.

"Yes sir?" the blue bot replies, peaking his helm past the doorway entry from his own little room in the Med Bay, his hands still working to repair one of Lunardust's pieces of armor that had been heavily dented during her reentry. It was thin and far too malleable to be regular battle armor. (This worried him. It was almost impossible to survive in the war torn world that Cybertron had turned into without appropriate armor, and this was just soft alloy used for the poorest of mechs and femmes.)

"Where are my other fragging files?" he grumbles, searching through the pile of datapads on his desk once again, glancing over them looking for a specific keyword.

"I believe Prime may have some of them."

"Why would Prime have my files?" Ratchet says, looking to his assistant. The blue bot shrugs his shoulder struts, but leans back forward to what he had been doing prior to Ratchet calling for him. The medic grumbles more, slamming the datapad in his servos down on the large metal desk. It echoes through the room and down the hall, startling a few of the humans and causing a few bots to look up from their debriefing.

Ratchet moves not-so-swiftly down the long hall, continuing to grumble and question why his leader would have his medical files. He wasn't necessarily looking for a medical file in particular, but he knew one of them, generally speaking, answered a question that he had floating around his processor.

-_Ratchet to Prime._-

Not a few astroseconds later, the large bot replies, slight surprise coming over the comm link from the frustration etched in the sound of Ratchet's voice.

-_This is Prime.-_

_-What, in the godly name of Primus, are you doing with my slagging _medical files_!-_

Optimus, currently sitting in his office reading over one of said files with a nice fulfilling mug of Energon, laughs half-heartedly and puts down the datapad he has in his servos.

-_Ratchet, my old comrade, what could you possibly need _my_ medical file for at this moment in time?-_

Ratchet pauses in the middle of the hall, staring forward at the end but not seeing the soldiers who are confused from his sudden halt.

-_You only have your file?-_

_-That is correct.-_

Ratchet suddenly feels pain in his processors and now realizes that he's going to have to search the base high and low for the file he needs.

-_I apologize, Prime. I had the impression that you had more.-_

_-No harm, no foul.-_

_-Ratchet out.-_

"Pardon me, Ratchet, but I was wondering if you could… are you alright?"

The medic looks up, trying to search his memory for where his other files could possibly be (along with why Optimus would have his own medical file); Arcee walks up holding the elbow joint to her left arm, right above where one of her guns would subspace out.

"Yes, I'm fine. You were in need of my assistance?"

Arcee nods, motioning to her arm. "Right. This strut is stiff and it seems my gun is jammed. Do you mind helping me with it?"

"Of course not. Come, let's get to the Med Bay."

Ratchet waves his servo for her to follow. They stay to the right side of the hallway, as per the humans' requests, being sure to watch where they step as they cross over to the entrance of Ratchet's domain.

Jolt looks up from the shoulder piece, giving Arcee a wave in greeting before turning his attention to an especially large dent that he had not noticed at first on another piece of Lunardust's armor. Arcee returns the wave just before he looks away.

"You say a gun is jammed?" Ratchet asks, going to his desk to pick up one of his many multifunction tools. Arcee nods, the creak of her metal telling him how she answered. He goes over to her, holding her forearm in his servos and scanning over the metal first. He frowns before using his tool to pop off the dark pink armor. The armor is set to the side as he quickly wiggles the tool again, moving a loose band back onto the correct wheel bearing.

Ratchet steps back and motions for Arcee to try and release her gun. It effortlessly appears from her subspace, hot and ready to fire. The medic smiles fondly, happy with his work. She takes the armor back and reapplies it, hearing a satisfying pop as it clicks back into place.

"Thank you," Arcee says, smiling at the old mech.

"All in a day's work," Ratchet replies, waving off the thanks as if it were dust in the air. Arcee smiles at him, shaking her helm, but something catches her eye.

"Who's that?" She asks, taking a few strides toward the resting orange body on the one occupied berth.

"Lunardust," Ratchet replies, grabbing one of his datapads off his now-unorganized desk. He's going to have to find a clear pad or delete some junk files from one of the few he has available so to put her information into it. "She arrived on Earth almost a quartex ago. The boy found her and took her in until she was well enough to come searching from us. Or so the report Major Lennox filled out, says."

Ratchet motions toward said file as it shows up on the screen of his pad. Lunardust's ward, Terrance, Ratchet found his name to be, had been gone to close to five hours so far. Unless Will had kidnapped the poor boy and was holding him hostage (which was highly unlikely), Ratchet supposed that the officer chose to entertain the boy long enough until the femme woke up refreshed and recharged.

"_Did you say Lunardust?" _Arcee asks_, _this time speaking in their native language of Cybertronix, which mildly surprises Ratchet. He had grown accustom to speaking English, even when the humans were not around. Ratchet nods, but Arcee is too embraced by the figure of the resting fembot. "_I haven't seen her since before the war…"_

"_You know her, Arcee?"_ Ratchet asks. Arcee does not reply, too lost in the faint, barely-there memories of being shipped off from Tyger Pax and taken to a safe home before she was old enough to fight for the Autobots in Iacon. They had been separated during the immense battle that took place right outside their home, and she lost hope in ever seeing her again once Tyger Pax fell to the Decepticons.

"_She was my bunk mate at the orphanage."_

The words are soft and faint, pain filled and sorrowful. The regret is deep.

Ratchet is suddenly up and rushing to the femme when a series of beeps go off. It had not been the estimated twelve human hours and she would have awoken on her own. He picks up the datapad attached to a wire connected to her main processor, and a serious of red flags have popped up around the digitalized version of her body. The main one Ratchet worries about his the flag connected to her Spark chamber.

"What the frag…" Ratchet says, confused of the strange sigils that are popping up instead of the usual Cybertronix that he would read. Arcee takes the datapad from Ratchet and looks over it. She recognized it as the usual Paxian that she had been originally taught.

"Ratchet, contact Prime, quickly. She's going into a static-lock."

Ratchet, even though he's confused with the term 'static-lock', contacts his superior as told.

-_Prime, I need you in the Med Bay immediately.-_

There's the distant rumble of an engine from the other side of the base.

-_May I ask why?-_

_-Our new friend is, according to Arcee, going into a static-lock.-_

The engine grows louder, and Prime does not reply.

* * *

"Sam Witwicky, pleased to meet you. My car is the yellow one that can't talk. He's got a kickass radio, though."

Terrance was thoroughly surprised by the slightly-nervous nature of the teen. He was seventeen, maybe eighteen, and obviously had not lost his virginity yet. The evident lack of self-confidence was enough to deduce that.

"Terrance Case. My car is the orange one that's with, um, Ratchet?"

Terrance glances over to Will, and he nods as he smiles fondly at the youngest of the three.

"Sweet," Sam says, nodding to confirm what he said. "Where are you from? You got an accent, kind of."

Terrance feels slightly awkward around the boy. "Florida. I grew up in Georgia, though, so that's probably what you hear."

"Oh, cool. My friend Miles is from Georgia. He lived in Atlanta before coming here right before high school started."

Terrance hums in acknowledgement, but he half listens to what the teenager rambles on about.

"How are you and Mikaela?" Will asks, beginning to walk toward the yellow car that has just pulled into the large, tall hanger.

"Off again," Sam says with a sigh, but it's suddenly uplifted by seeing the same yellow car that Will is walking towards.

Terrance feels his headache coming back from the mood swings this kid is having. Sam has the same hyperactivity as a ten year old who was given an energy drink and a bag of junk food full of Red 40. And the same level of verbal filter also.

"Bumblebee, my main bot!" Sam shouts excitedly just as the yellow car begins to transform. Terrance had only seen it a few times from Lunardust before coming to the base, but he was still fascinated at how it worked. He had been an animation student in Florida before the death of his mother and his brain worked in the way of trying to figure out how he would replicate it on a computer screen. It must take hours and plenty of patience just to do a fraction of the bot's body.

"_**Hit it there for me, homie**_," the bot replied, and Terrance could faintly place the movie quote. Sam bumped his fist into the large one before the hand was opened for Sam to step out. The teen climbed on and then crawled up his arm carefully before settling in the space between two pieces of shoulder armor beside Bumblebee's head.

The yellow bot waved to the two others who had previously been talking to his ward.

"Bee, this is Terrance. He came with another bot today. He's with Ratch right now."

"_She's_ with Ratchet," Terrance corrects. Bumblebee, in return, jumps from stabilizing servos to stabilizing servos, clapping his large metal hands together. Suddenly, if Terrance thinks correctly, he hears the beginning chords of 'My Girl' begin to play from the bot.

"Right, sorry, _she's_ with Ratch and- wait, you said she?"

Terrance nods.

"Ah man, Bee, we gotta tell the others! Come on, let's go. I bet Arcee and Elita will be excited to hear this."

Suddenly, the yellow bot and his charge are gone, disappeared down a hall to where Terrance can only guess it leads to.

"Would you like a quick tour of the Base?"

Terrance looks to Major Lennox, and he knows that the officer is just trying to keep him out of the Med Bay and out of Ratchet's metaphoric hair.

"We won't be here too much longer, but you should want to know where everything is, don't you think?" Will tries to persuade. Terrance agrees, and the two are off, keeping to the left side of the halls.

However, the large rumble of a truck shakes the walls, and after soldiers quickly move aside, a red and blue truck comes barreling around the corner of the hall, driving as if Unicron himself was at his pedes.

"The hell?" Terrance asks, looking to Will for an answer. The major frowns deeply and pulls out his walkie, using it to call one of his fellow soldiers.

"Hey, Epps, you there?"

There is a crackle from the other side.

"Is there another Decepitcon attack?"

"Nah, man. I haven't been told anything."

"Thanks, Lennox out."

Terrance stands guarded, waiting for an answer, and then the two make an immanent observation.

"That's the direction of the Med Bay," Will says, and he cannot stop Terrance from talking off into a run. Nothing could stop him from getting to the femme that lay dormant in the Med Bay. "Terrance, wait!" Will yells after him, but the boy ignores him completely. Cursing to himself, Will takes off after him, following the path that Optimus had just taken. The human sized door into the Med Bay slams open as Terrance rushes in. He yells for Lunardust, frustrated and outraged – both at himself and these robots – thinking that he could possibly trust them.

"Don't touch her! Get away from her!" He yells, quickly running up the stairs that lead to the berth that Lunardust lays on.

"Move, boy!" Ratchet shouts back, grabbing at the back of his shirt to keep him away from Optimus and Arcee as they work together to bring Lunardust back online. "Let them be, they're trying to save her."

"You're the reason she's like this!" Terrance yells, his voice cracking half-way through as he beats at the metallic hand with his balled fists. Small specks of blood show up on the dull silver metal from Terrance's broken skin.

"Boy, don't test me," Ratchet says, trying to keep an optic on the boy and his two fellow bots. "Optimus, what is going on?"

Will stands behind where Ratchet is holding Terrance, looking over the two as he watches the scene unfold before them all.

"Optimus, now!" Arcee yells, holding Lunardust down by her shoulders before the Autobot leader opens the orange femme's spark chamber and forcing his servos deep into the bright blue Spark.

* * *

"_You are doing very well, my star."_

_Lunardust looks up from the files she was stacking onto the shelf, and smiles fondly at the mech watching her. _

"_Thank you, sir."_

"_Keep up the good work," he tells her, patting the top of her helm with his large servos before going on to the next femme a few shelves down. _

"_What did he say, Luna?" _

_Lunardust looks through the opening in the shelf and grins at her close friend. _

"_He said I'm doing a good job, Railchaser. Maybe I'll be chosen soon to go to the capital?"_

_Railchaser grins back. The siren for the end of the day goes off astroseconds later, signaling for the femmes that they are done with work for the day. Their small bodies move around shelves and they quickly move out of the file room, following after the other small younglings. They are the smallest, the youngest, but not much could stop the pair when together._

_Found together barely a meta-cycle ago, they were cold and hungry and lost. Their creators were lost to a strange plague of rust that had taken over the part that connected the lesser sides of Tyger Pax and Nova Cronum._

"_Come on, Luna, let's go get some Energon and go find that tunnel again," Railchaser says, quietly saying the end of her sentence into Lunardust's audio sensors. Lunardust leans away from her friend but nods in agreement. _

_All of the younglings file in a straight line, following behind one of the fembots that watch over them. _

"_What are you two planning?"_

_The duo jumps around to look at the tall mint green femme, looking sheepishly at each other for a klik. _

"_Nothing, Cross Star." _

_The femme folds her arms over her chassis and the two know they've been caught. _

"_Well, if that be so, I must advise you to be a bit quieter, Railchaser," Cross Star says before crouching to their short height. "I'd hate for someone to follow you to that tunnel of yours." Winking one of her bright green optics, Cross Star motions with her helm for them to go back to the group. The femmes giggle small whirls and give a kind click to the youngling supervisor before running to catch back up with the rest of the group. _

_After a fresh cup of Energon and the femmes are free to do as they please until the next lunar-cycle when they must return for another cup and another six groons of filing work. All of the younglings, when they arrived at the orphanage, were told that if their work was done well enough that Irongear would take them to the capital and put them under an apprenticeship with one of the mechs and femmes, maybe even the High Council Pavilions, where they would grow and leave their creator-less past behind to become a powerful and influential bot in society. _

"_Luna, come on!" Railchaser whispers harshly, waving her servo in front of the femme's optics. Lunardust looks to her comrade and nods, placing her empty cup in the dispenser that quickly shot it through a small tube to rush it to the kitchens for sterilization. _

_The fembots left the common room, sneaking past their youngling-watchers – who were quite too busy gossiping to notice – and moved down the long halls of the Archives to leave out the side door that would lead them directly back to the orphanage and their semi-explored tunnel._

_Just before the steps of the orphanage was a small side alley that led to a set of rooftop stairs and then the back of the building. Down that side alley, just after the stairs, was a broken window that led to the locked basement of the orphanage, and in that locked basement was a door that had long rusted shut. However, because of the rest, the lock and handle had easily broken off and the femmes could drag the door open. They had to be quick and as cautious with it, only doing it during the day so that no one would be suspicious of the sound and think it to be construction from the outside world._

_The femmes are easily past this part, as they've done it a half-dozen times. Each time they go farther and farther down the tunnel, their light gold optics shining enough light through the tunnel to see where the walls were. _

_Half way through the metallic flooring turns into a strange dry substance that takes them almost a groon to scrub off their stabilizing servos. They step carefully, being sure to miss the pools of oil that they found the second and third times they were exploring. During their last adventure, the light of a door way could be seen just five hics away, but they had to rush back before any of the youngling-watchers grew suspicious of why they were late for curfew. _

"_We're almost there, RC," Luna whispers, leading the two through the tunnel as she had the best memory of where the puddles of oil and tar were located._

_They pass their last marker, showing where they stopped, before pushing forward for the light coming through crack of the closed door. More sludge is stepped in, but Lunardust and Railchaser are too excited to care for it much. _

_The door is cold against Luanrdust's servos. She and Railchaser push on the door, and it opens easier than the one underneath the orphanage. The light is brighter than they expected and it takes a few kliks for their optics to readjust to correct vision._

"_Primus," Railchaser says quietly, looking at the light blue steel walls, admiring the colorful lights that flicked slowly, and the buttons connected to a control panel. The wires ran up the wall, across the incredibly high ceiling, and then down to numerous machines located just below the catwalk that the femmes had come across. "Luna, you gotta look at this!"_

_Lunardust walks over to the railing and peaks over, amazed at the tall bots walking back and forth, some carrying tools and others holding datapads. One in particular, a deep purple with silver accents around his helm and chassis, is shouting out instructions. The femmes sit there, just watching as the bots, and a few femmes, hurry about the room like a hive of ant-droids. _

_Then, suddenly, all of the bots are rushing from the large circular room and behind a thick plate of reflective Energon glass. _

_The lights that had been softly flickering on the wall begin to flash different colors, and the energy in the room thickens so hard that the two femmes can barely move. They watch as the cylinder in the middle of the room begins to spin, faster and faster growing in power. _

_The beam of light is almost blinding._

_Railchaser and Lunardust scream, reaching up to cover their optics with their servos as they crouch down, curling into their small youngling bodies. Railchaser loses her balance and falls, pushing Lunardust with her. The older femme goes tumbling through the bars of the railing, falling just a few hics from the moving cylinder. _

"_Luna!" Railchaser screams, uncovering her optics for a few astroseconds before she's forced to cover them again._

"_Stop!" One of the mechs yells from behind the Energon glass and the cylinder slows, the beam of light fading. Two of the bots come running toward Lunardust, and Railchaser runs down the staircase that leads from the catwalk down to the main floor. _

"_Luna!" She yells again, dashing over to her comrade. "Luna, are you hurt? I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to push you!"_

"_What the slag are you two doing in here?!" The large yellow bot yells, before he is pushed aside by the large purple bot. He towers over all of them._

"_How did you get in here?" he asks, his voice deep and frightens Railchaser into a stillness._

_Lunardust puts up to the catwalk and to the slightly ajar door that lead to the rusted one underneath the orphanage. _

_He frowns, his expression stern and unwavering. _

"_Come, we must return you to your youngling-watchers," he commands, grabbing them both by their midsection and hauling them effortlessly over his shoulder struts. _

_Lunardust and Railchaser look at each other from behind his helm, knowing they've lost any chance they thought they had at getting to the capital anytime soon._

_The walk back to the orphanage takes longer than they thought, but when they arrive at the front steps, the duo wishes it was much, much longer. The mech knocks on the front golden door with his large servos, and it takes only astroseconds for a care-giver to answer. _

"_Yes, Shockwave, sir?"_

"_I believe these two are under your care," he rumbles, his entire upper half vibrating with the deepness of his vocals. Shockwave pulls the femmes from his shoulders and lets their pedes rest on the first step of the orphanage. Cross Star looks at the duo, and her facial plating feels warm with excess Energon overheating her systems._

"_Yes, sir, they are. I will be sure to see to their punishment for disturbing your research, _immediately_."_

"_There is no necessity in that," he says, surprising all three femmes. "I'd like them to assist me in the research facilities. It appears the Archives are not sufficient of an adventure for them." Shockwave looks at the two younglings. "Rest well, you will be doing twofold the labor you habitually tend to. Oh, and, Cross Star, have this one see to a medic. She took quite a fall."_

* * *

_Meta-cycle:_ approximately 13 Cybertronian months.

_Klik: _approximately 1 Cybertronian minute.

_Quartex:_ approximately 1 Earth month.

_Groon: _approximately 1 Cybertronian hour.

_Hic_: approximately 1 Earth kilometer.

Oh my, my, myy... What could I possibly have planned?


	3. Survivors in Silver Skin

**The Vagabond Gospel.**

Chapter Three: Survivors in Silver Skin

"_In a way we are all connected, threaded together. In a way we are all suspended, bound going nowhere..." _Hands Like Houses, Introduced Species

* * *

_"Railchaser, grab that petro-rabbit!" Shockwave yells as the little metallic rodent begins scampering off at almost strut-break speeds. The short femme yelps when it rushes between her pedes, and she loses balance trying not to step on the more mechanism. There's the clank of metal on metal as Railchaser goes down and Shockwave begins to chase after it, growling under the slight steam from the heat of his body meeting the cold atmosphere._

_The small light-gold creature continues to jump around, its small body just a blur until it jumps into the servos of Lunardust, involuntary of course. The deeply colored femme grins as she holds the creature down firmly, but is sure not to harm it in any way._

_"Thanks, Luna," Railchaser says, taking a deep inhale before exhaling it through her exhaust port. Then dark-pink femme stands back on her stablizers as she watches Shockwave take the petro-rabbit from Lunardust's hands, nodding at older of the femmes. Lunardust nods back and clasps her servos together in front of her, down by her midsection._

_Shockwave takes the small bot back to the cage it escaped from and locks the cage door tight._

_"What are you needing petro-rabbits for?" Lunardusts asks, her faceplates shifting to show an intrigued expression when she looks over the flashing lights on the walls and the dozen or so petro-rabbits locked up tight._

_"I am afraid that I cannot educate you with any of that information, Lunardust," Shockwave replies, and pulls a steel-wire tarp over the cage._

_"I understand. I was just curious."_

_Railchaser feels her optics roll to the right at Lunardust's words. They both know perfectly well that they will sneak in later that cycle to see the datapads that some of the mechs always leave out by accident. They had been doing this since they originally started to work at the research facilities almost four vorn ago. The adventure that Shockwave and the rest of the mechs gave the two was still not enough for their restless sparks._

_"Railchaser," Shockwave calls for the femme, and she appears beside her comrade. "Are you injured?"_

_"No, sir," she replies, shaking her helm. He nods._

_"Very well, take a rest. I shall see you both next cycle," Shockwave says as a dismissal. The two femmes nod and do their traditional race-to-the-time-out from their position, Shockwave following their quick frames with calculating optics. Railchaser wins, just as she has a majority of their time in the facilities, and punches her time card with a victory pump into the air. Lunardust rolls her optics, but grins as she punches second._

_The femmes go about their routine. The walk from the facility to the small apartment that they had just purchased for a steal-price is about half way between the orphanage and their work. It's a studio, with everything open and gleaming a light, soft blue steel. Lunardust punches in the correct door code, and the entrance isn't even completely open before they're slipping inside. Their mid-cycle had been full of chasing after the small, yet quick petro-rabbits and cyberweasels. The two were curious as to what an electric study facility could be doing with rodents, and were set to find out._

_After a much craved mug of cool Energon, and a slight dash from their secret illegal-stash of High Grade, the two were as wound up as they had been when first going to work and eased out of their apartment just as fast as they had come in._

_Their neighbor, a lovable intern that worked in one of the facilities adjacent from their own, greeted the two sluggishly as he dragged his stabilizers into his own apartment._

_"How was this cycle working with the Hatchet?" Lunardust teased. The green bot glared at the two, narrowing his golden optics at them._

_"You always seem to ask me that every time we see each other and the answer has yet to change."_

_The femmes whirl and click to themselves before leaving the poor bot to his own devices._

_"Hey, Rc, Luna!" he calls just as they get to the end of the hall. They stop and he quickly runs over, handing them a thick card with his designation sigils engraved on the top. "Mind picking up some of that Sparkler for me? My roommate is having a get-together and said you're invited if you get us some for your supply."_

_The two femmes look to one another, reading each other's body movements before looking back to the mech and nodding._

_"I hope you have enough credits. Our suppler has quite a steep price," Railchaser says, winking to the mech before she swipes the card from his servos. He rolls his optics._

_"Just make sure you don't buy a new set of shoulder armor like you did last time," he grumbles and turns, leaving the femmes once again. Said femmes, dressed in shining orange and pink, click and whirl with laughter over that mild-prank that they had committed just a meta-cycle ago. They had bought him a new set of armor, but not in his usual dark green. Who knew yellow looked so good on him._

_"The color really brought out your optics!" Railchaser shouts as he goes back into his apartment. There's a wave of digits given back to them, causing them to laugh again. One of the older bots in the building, a cynical, rusting Cloudjumper, pokes his helm out of his doorway and glares darkly at the femmes. They scoot from the hallway, but nothing can stop their soft clicks._

_"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Lunardust and Railchaser ask at the same moment as they slip through the broken window underneath their old orphanage. They look to one another and that is enough for them to grin and go to the rusted door that still had not been corrected those few vorns ago when they had first found the door that lead to the secret tunnel connected to the electric study depository._

_Lunardust and Railchaser move down the dark tunnel, their larger forms now taking up more space than usual. The orange femme whines softly when she brushes against the rough walls and feels some of the paint chip off and white scratches are left behind showing the light color of the primer on her paint and the original color of the metal. Her next large paycheck was going toward ionized steel so she wouldn't have to deal with paint chips._

_The door is closed, but they push it open easily and step onto the catwalk that overlooks the circular testing room._

_"Holy Primus," Railchaser clicks, staring at the quickly moving glyphs on the datapad she picked up from the stack set near one of the side consoles._

_"What's it say, RC?" Lunardust asks, putting down one of the pads in her own servos and walking over to her friend. The pink femme hands her the datapad, and Lunardust's own yellow optics glance over the words that form information in her processor. "What are they planning?" She asks to herself, trying to make sense of the notes that were obviously made by Shockwave, on top of trying to connect why he would need petro-rabbits to-_

_"Someone's coming!" RC whirls in a low, harsh voice, dropping down behind one of the carts stacked with blank datapads. Lunardust freezes as she hears a group of voices beginning to come in the room. There's a shine of light from behind the Energon glass, giving more proof that they're about to be caught. She dives down into the small hold underneath the center console. The coursing electricity originating from the center pillar has her Spark beat increasing and small static blasts coming from the tips of her digits._

_The two femmes are silent, trying to keep to the shadows so they are not seen, as three mechs walk in. Lunardust isn't sure of what to feel when she see Shockwave is one of them, but the other two she has never seen at the facility before._

_"Are you sure this will be finished in time?" The dark grey mech says, his servos clasped behind him as he stands like one of the Imperial Guards. Lunardust can pinpoint him with a military background almost immediately. The other wears a white steel cloak just like Shockwave would. Lunardust and Railchaser's chief walks over to the stack of datapads that the two femmes had just been looking at, and he pauses when he notices the screen of one still lit._

_"Yes, Megatron," Shockwave replies, taking three of the datapads and walking away from the cart. It is only a few hics from Railchaser's hiding place, and Lunardust can see her overheating from the lack of ventilating her systems. They would hear her and it would give them both away. "They believe we are merely experimenting to see what can slow the petro-rabbit."_

_"Very good, Shockwave," Megatron replies, letting his deep red optics move around the room. Buttons and squares on the walls flash and flicker different lights. Suddenly, he slams his stabilizing servos down on the thick metallic floor. The sound echoes in the room and scares Railchaser just enough to make her let out a scream of fear. The third mech, opposite of Megatron and Shockwave, moves the cart aside and grabs at Railchaser's thin armor, pulling her from the floor and letting her hang from her shoulder joint._

_"Looks like we have a little spy," the mech says, his voice cold and menacing, with a grin to match. "What should we do with her, Lord Megatron?"_

_Megatron looks at the scampering femme, watching as she grabs at her shoulder strut so not to let the metal pop out of place. He then lets his optics roll to Shockwave's direction. "Do you know this femme, Shockwave?"_

_The deep purple bot looks to Railchaser for half a klik, his processor weighing out all his options to answer with, but he nods. "Yes, she is my apprentice."_

_"Not for long," the third mech says, roughly handling the femme before wrapping one of his servos around the wires and cords that connect under her helm._

_"Let her go!" Lunardust yells, jumping from her own hiding spot and latching onto the mech's back, beating her small balled up servos into his shoulders and helm. The mech yelps and drops Railchaser before grabbing at the other femme now attacking him. "Don't you dare hurt her, you slagging glitch mouse!"_

_The mech growls before he pulls the femme from his back and slams her onto the center console. Lunardust whines at the pain of popped wires and dented metal._

_"Looks like I'm just going to have to teach you a lesson," He hisses, his denta sharp and grinding together. Flicking a switch on the center console the electricity goes coursing from the floor pillar to the port on the ceiling. Neither Shockwave nor Megatron move to stop the red, gray and bright blue bot. Lunardust screams just before he pushes her into the thick current._

* * *

Lunardust's upper half is thrusted upward. She ventilates her exhaust, and her chest feels tight, but it may be from the large servos buried deep into the glowing blue energy. Slowly, Optimus pulls his servos from her Spark, watching as it lights back to the brightness it had been before it they had to grab her out of the static-lock.

The orange femme takes an astrosecond or two to catch her bearings before flipping off the table and cornering herself away from all of the large mechs that are surrounding her. The yellow one seems familiar, but she cannot place where she has seen him before.

"Who are you? Where am I?"

"Dusty, I'm here!" Terrance calls, fighting against Ratchet's hold on his shirt. The medic releases him and Terrance goes stumbling forward. Lunardust leans away from him, surprised at the sight of the fleshy little human being. Had he just called for her? The boy falls forward, just barely catching himself on the edge of the berth, and Will goes over to help him up.

Terrance feels his heart skip a beat as he looks up at the femme. She seems older than he remembers. He feels the connection that he had, is blocked and lost in those deep gold optics that he realized weren't _Dusty's_, they were Lunardust's.

Lunardust looks around, her optics touching every visible surface.

"_Where is he_?" she asks hurriedly, followed by a flurry of clicks and whirls as she crouches and looks through each bot, making sure there are no illusions or changes.

"_Luna, who are you talking about?"_

The orange femme looks for the familiar voice, and almost doesn't believe what her processor is telling her.

"_Railchaser?_" she asks, moving slowly from her curled position to in front of her longtime friend. Her armor is lighter than she remembered, and her usual flawless faceplate was covered in buffed out scars and the distinct sigil of **RC** just under her left optic.

The femme looks her friend up and down, making sure it is the same Railchaser she remembered, and not something controlled by the fiend that put her in this strange room.

"_I'm so pleased to see that you're not harmed," _Lunardust says, embracing the femme close to her chassis. Her Spark thrums happily. "_I thought for sure that he would shock you too!"_

Arcee frowns, deep crevices forming on her faceplates. "_Who would shock me, Luna?"_

Lunardust freezes, almost as if she had just been shocked again. She remembers the red glare of the optics and the glint of the beast's denta in the flickering buttons. His servos were cold to the touch when he thrust her into the blast. It feels as if small ant-droids are crawling up her back strut now, and all the metal in her body shrinks from the suddenly drop of full system temperature.

"_Him_," Lunardust whispers, and barely anyone's audio receptors could pick it up. "_The one that will make the stars scream."_

Will and Terrance are unable to comprehend the conversations, even though they are used to hearing the odd click and whistle from the bots, this is far too advanced for them.

"_Luna, what do you last remember?" _Arcee asks, softly placing her servo on Lunardust's shoulder strut.

"_He pushed me into the beam, and it was so… painful. But I couldn't feel anything in my entire systems. My processor frizzed and then I woke up here!" _Then, in a soft voice, once again, Lunardust asked, _"Where is here, exactly?"_

"What the hell is going on!" Terrance demands after being ignored far too long. The orange femme jumps in surprise at the sound of the human, and looks at him in wonder. Why did they have to be so small? She would easily step on one if not conscious of where she stepped. "Why doesn't she remember me?"

"The static lock," Arcee mumbles, before quickly going over to Ratchet's datapad that he had connected to Luanrdust's processor while she was in stasis and filing through it momentarily. Lunardust continues to watch the boy, taking in his wide, boisterous movements and the sudden rise in the temperature of his outer squishy coating. Arcee finds the results she needed and has it projected on the adjacent wall.

At first, when Ratchet first hooked the femme to his systems, the usual purple line that connected the processor to the Spark casing was nonexistent, but when Arcee flips to the next few slides, showing the sudden change as soon as Prime grabbed her Spark, the connection was remade.

"Before I joined the Autobots, when the Decepitcons first took Tyger Pax, we were apprenticed under Shockwave, and one post-cycle we had crept back into the facility because we were curious as to why they were ordering petro-rabbits only to find out that Shockwave had been experimenting with how to use electricity as a weapon for Megatron."

Lunardust watches her close friend, optics wide and childlike.

"We were caught and Starscream used Luna as the first official Cybertronian test subject. The connection between her processor and Spark was lost. She has no memories between then and now."

"How do you know if that's even possible?" Ratchet questions. Lunardust is slowly started to make a connection.

"Shockwave used me to lure other mechs and femmes into the tunnel that went to the testing site, and he would do this to them so that he could make a mindless, controllable army for Megatron. They would keep fighting until their Sparks were ripped from their chest."

The room is silent. Lunardust does not understand the strange human language, but she knows the yellow mech in front of her.

"_You're Ratchet_," she says, stepping up to him. His blue optics are old, which are in contrast to her yellow ones. "_How is Thunder Rod? Please inform him that I apologize for not acquiring the Crystal stash he asked for."_

Ratchet goes completely still. Some even fear that his Spark may have stopped pulsing.

Optimus remembers the just-as-sarcastic mech that Ratchet had taken under his wing not long before the war started. When on the battle field, if need be, Ratchet would take up arms while Thunder Rod took his position temporarily (and after one close incident they had all agreed that if something should prohibit Ratchet from completing his duty as CMO, that Thunder Rod would take over and complete the job to the best of his ability).

"_My little sparkplug_," Ratchet says, before he moves, mechanically compared to his usual fluid movements, from the room and into his private office.

"Will, tell me what the hell is going on," Terrance demands loudly. "What happened to her? Why can't she remember me? Make them fix her. She has to remember me!"

No one but Optimus hears him whisper, "She's the only one I have left.

Lunardust looks to Arcee. "_Did I say the wrong thing? What's wrong with Thunder Rod?"_

Arcee looks to Optimus, and when he nods his helm, she takes Lunardust's arm gently. "_Luna, my dear star, we have much to inform you on."_

As the two femmes sit on the berth on the far side of the Med Bay, Optimus looks to Will on what to do with the hysterical boy that has taken over the body of Terrance. He has lost the last person he had holding him to this life, and now he has nothing – not even himself.

"I shall speak to the boy," Optimus says, and Will nods, leaving the mech to do what he may have planned.

"Terrance," the Autobot Leader calls, and the young adult looks up with a pale face, bloodshot eyes and the look of a man who has lost everything. "I would like to acknowledgeable you on what we are going to do with this situation. Please, if you'll let me escort you."

The large blue and red bot reforms, the sounds of metal clicking and softly brushing against each other remind Terrance of the constant squeaking one of Lunardust's tires had while they drove, but he grew so accustomed to it he couldn't sleep without hearing it. The driver side door opens and a dark haired man with scruff, and too many small scars to tell where one stops and one starts, steps down. Terrance's face furrows.

"It is simply a hologram," Optimus says, but it comes from the truck and not from the man's mouth. "Come, I believe this form will be a bit more comfortable with you. Let us talk on our friend Lunardust."

* * *

**A/N**: This chapter is a bit shorter than the first two, and I know it was quite a bit of dialogue, but this gives important information for later on in the story!

Enjoy. Reviews are much appreciated. Have a great weekend.


End file.
